The present invention relates in general to the electronic exchange of information and more particularly to a method and system for obtaining the electronic equivalent of a published item using an identifying tag attached to the item.
The quantity and variety of published materials such as newspapers, magazines, journals and other similar printed articles (collectively xe2x80x9cpublished itemsxe2x80x9d) keep increasing. Often, a subscriber will want to use a published item, or portion thereof, for incorporation into other documents or for storage for future use. Physical storage of the item, however, may be inefficient and/or impractical. With recent advances in small computing systems such as notebook and desktop computers, however, and increased functionality of the application programs that run them, it is now possible to retrieve, store and maintain published items electronically.
The electronic equivalent of a published item offers many advantages including reduced paper clutter, easy integration into other electronic documents, portability and easy transfer to others using electronic mail. Moreover, the widespread use of software application programs such as word-processors, spreadsheets and graphics programs, creates an ideal environment for the use of electronic equivalents. For example, an individual subscriber may desire to possess the electronic equivalent of a publication received in the mail. The publication may contain a graphic, listing, table or other similar piece of information of interest to the individual. Copying the item with an ordinary copy machine will not permit the user to alter, shape or size it to fit his or her needs. On the other hand, recreating the item may be time consuming or impossible if the item is a complicated graphic or long data listing. Scanning or Optical Character Recognition (xe2x80x9cOCRxe2x80x9d) can be cumbersome with the resulting image being of lesser quality than the original.
The electronic equivalent of a published item, on the other hand, could be stored for future use, printed, sized and otherwise manipulated with readily available application software programs
In addition, a publisher may desire to distribute electronic equivalents of published items to his subscribers on a regular or request basis. Electronic equivalents may allow the publisher to reduce printing costs and provide publication updates quickly and efficiently. The Internet, with its widespread use and ease of access, provides an ideal networking platform for such purposes.
The invention relates to a method and device of push-pulling electronic equivalents of published items such as magazine articles, journals, newspapers or portions thereof and other similar printed materials over a wide area network such as the Internet.
In one embodiment, one or more electronic tags (e.g. bar codes) are attached by the publisher directly on the published item or a portion of the published item prior to distribution to subscribers. A subscriber receives the subscription through the mail or other off-network basis and sends a request for an electronic equivalent of the published item on the network by swiping or entering the tag information into a sensing device. Preferably, the sensing device is an electronic bar code reader coupled directly to the subscriber""s computer. A notebook, desktop computer or similar computing means receives the tag information from the sensing device and formats a network compatible request that is transmitted to the publishing authority over the network.
The tag information may include the identity of the subscriber on the network (e.g. the subscriber""s e-mail address) and a reference to the particular item being requested by the subscriber. The request is receive and processed by the publisher who, in turn, formats a response message containing the electronic equivalent of the requested item or a pointer to a network cite (e.g. a URL) containing the item. The response is pushed to the user via the network using the address encoded in the requesting message and received at the user""s computer in due course. Alternatively, the publisher can push the address that points the user to a web page on the Internet containing the electronic equivalent requested by the user.
In another embodiment, the publisher searches a database of update users and automatically pushes publication updates on a periodic basis using a subscriber""s electronic address. The publisher may also send an electronic message alerting users that an electronic equivalent of an original or updated item is available for download by the user.
In still another embodiment, the publisher pushes electronic equivalents of published items to a local server for access by users having log-on privileges to the server.
In yet another embodiment, the publisher encodes the electronic equivalents with a video clip, sound clip or other information content not available with the written version.
Also disclosed is a method of transferring electronic equivalents of published items over a wide area network. The method comprises the steps of attaching a tag to a published item prior to distribution; distributing the published item to a subscriber on an off-network basis; using the tag to create a request for an electronic equivalent of the published item; transmitting the request on the wide area network; creating a response to the request; and transmitting the response over the wide area network.
In another embodiment, a method of transferring an electronic version of a published article over the Internet is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of reading a bar code associated with the published article; encrypting said bar code into an Internet compatible request message; transmitting said request message over the Internet to the publisher of said published article; decoding said message to obtain the bar code; retrieving the electronic version of the published article associated with the bar code; creating a response message containing a pointer to the electronic version; and transmitting the response message to the originator of the request message.
Other aspects and advantages of the invention including its specific implementations are understood by reference to following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.